5 Times the Hulk Protected Bruce
by Sheyrena Wyrsabane
Summary: and 1 time Bruce protected the Hulk. A short Bruce-Hulk acceptance story. Warnings: mention of attempted suicide in one of the sections.


1.

Bruce carefully examines his notes and looks back at the screen in front of him. He's almost certain that he has Erskine's formula figured out. He has qualms about replicating the super soldier formula, he's afraid of what could happen if it got in the wrong hands, but he knows what Captain America was capable of and maybe the potential good outweighs the potential bad.

As it turns out, Bruce never needed to have a moral dilemma.

The explosion is deafening and Bruce feels a wave of heat wash over him. He expects the blast to consume him or to be gutted by a flying object. Instead, something explodes out of him.

Bruce watches his lab burn, removed, tucked into the consciousness of—Bruce doesn't know what to call what he's become. He's large and green and apparently immune to searing heat and flying pieces of metal. He watches as a chunk of computer collides with his shoulder and bounces harmlessly off. He watches as flames engulf his body and it feels like he's being tickled.

The thing that protects him doesn't laugh, though. He bellows, the sound shaking the fragile foundations of the building, and the ceiling collapses on top of him. He stands up and barrels out of the wreckage.

There are emergency vehicles there, and the policemen curse when they see the green thing, and Bruce warns whatever he is to duck, but he doesn't. The cops empty their guns, and it's the other guy's turn.

Bruce is forced to watch as he flips cars, knocks humans aside, steps on people. He can't even close his eyes to block out the horrors, because he isn't in control of himself.

There is screaming and shouting, and people are still shooting, but it doesn't work. He's still on a rampage, and Bruce can't watch this. He's a doctor. He's supposed to help people.

What has he done?

2.

There are men in uniform surrounding him when Bruce comes to. He's in full body restraints, and there are machines connected to him and one of them is pumping who knows what into his system, and there are five machine and a rocket launcher aimed at him.

He looks at his hands, and they're not green, so he smiles.

Someone nudges him with the butt of a gun. "You think something's funny?"

"No," Bruce says. His voice is raspy like he hasn't used it in a while. He wonders how long he's been out for.

"You're one sick bastard. You want to know how many people you killed before we got you?"

No, he really doesn't, but he has to. He's been trying to keep track since the incident at his lab. He's turned into the other guy four times. The body count is higher than he'll ever be able to fix, but he tries to. Whenever he's himself he works at clinics, with relief efforts, anything to try and even out the balance.

He sees a man with a lab coat enter, and he can't help the hope he feels. They're running tests? Maybe they can figure out how to fix him? He tries to lean forward, tries to read the doctor's clipboard.

He feels the pain blossom in his head, but the pain doesn't last long, because then the other guy, subdued by drugs and Bruce's calm, surges to the surface.

He explodes out of his restraints amid the flash of gunfire. He tramples the cot, smashes the medical machines. Then he turns his attention on the two people fleeing before him.

No, Bruce thinks as the Hulk scoops one up and tosses him against the wall. Please don't do this.

His words have no effect.

3.

Bruce turns the gun over in his hands. He's been running for months, trying to keep one step ahead of General Ross, because he knows the man can't contain him, and capture only leads to more deaths. Bruce doesn't want to be responsible for the deaths of anyone else.

There's one more and it's all over. Ross's mistake isn't in hunting Bruce down, it's in not killing him once he finally has him. Bruce understands what Ross doesn't. The Hulk can't be controlled and that makes him dangerous, not something that should be replicated.

Bruce places the gun to his head with a surprisingly steady hand. He pulls the trigger, grateful that this is about to be over.

He doesn't expect the other guy to spit the bullet back out, but he should've realized how good he was at recognizing threats. The Hulk curls his large green fist around the bullet, and Bruce is still holding it when he returns to himself.

He presses his fist to his forehead. He needs to move before Ross catches up to him.

4.

Bruce had spent his time in Calcutta mastering the Hulk. Well, not quite mastering, but his control had gotten better. And then Hawkeye blew a hole in the Helicarrier.

Bruce crashes to the ground, and his body knows they're under attack, knows and reacts. He tries to fight the Hulk, but the Hulk doesn't trust Bruce to protect them, and Bruce finds himself relegated to the backseat.

He sees Natasha, sees the sheer panic on her face, and hopes she doesn't run. She runs, and the Hulk identifies her as the threat and takes off after her.

No, he screams, but the Hulk ignores him. Ignores him until they're falling through the sky, and then everything goes dark.

5.

"That's my secret," Bruce says, turning to smile over shoulder. "I'm always angry."

He turns to face the Chi'tauri monster and tells the Hulk now would be a good time to come out and play. The Hulk rips through him, and punches the beast in the face.

6.

Bruce and Tony have been working for months to figure out the secret to the Hulk, part of Fury's arrangement with General Ross to keep Bruce on the Avengers instead of in a lab. Bruce never thought they'd get anywhere, and then one day they did.

They're staring at the computer screen, and Bruce doesn't know how to feel. He always thought he'd feel relief in this moment, but he finds himself wishing he'd never started this project; though, he hadn't really had a choice. He should've known there was nothing he and Tony couldn't solve if they worked together. Maybe he should've put in less effort, but he doesn't know how to do things half-heartedly.

"Uh," Tony says, looking over at Bruce.

Bruce tries to smile, but he can't. Someone's going to see this research, and they're going to ask him to extract the Hulk. And if he says no…Bruce can feel the Hulk itching under his skin. He can feel the Hulk's question. Are we all right? Fine, Bruce says. This isn't a Hulk situation. Tony could get hurt if it was.

"You told me I might like what happened if I embraced the Hulk." Bruce casts Tony and uneasy look. "What if I told you I did?"

Tony tilts his head to the side. "Bruce, what are you saying?"

Bruce has to look away. He shouldn't have said that. He should keep his mouth shut before he gives Tony a reason to turn Bruce in. Would Tony do that? The Hulk prickles under his skin.

"Bruce." Tony grabs Bruce's chin and forces him to look at Tony. "Tell me what's going on inside you head."

Bruce hesitates. If he tells Tony and things don't go well, he loses the Hulk. But if he doesn't tell Tony, he has to run and he loses everything. Is it too much to ask that he can keep the Hulk and his new friends?

Tony's grip slackens, but Bruce doesn't look away.

"I'm saying I don't mind him anymore," Bruce says. "All this time he's just been trying to protect me. I finally figured it out, and we've reached an understanding. I don't want him gone."

Tony holds Bruce's gaze for a long moment, and Bruce is too frightened even to fidget. He holds his breath, waiting for the rejection, for the phone call that will seal his fate.

Tony looks past Bruce to the hard drive that holds all of their data. They've been holding the information here to keep Ross or any other interested parties from accessing it in case they get ideas about kidnapping Bruce and running their own experiments, and Tony hadn't even given SHIELD a look at their progress.

Without a second thought, Tony takes the screwdriver he had been toying with and stabs the hard drive.

"Oops," Tony says as the hard drive sparks.

Bruce stares, his mind trying to process. Tony grins and yanks his screwdriver out.

"You want a go?" he asks, holding out the tool.

Bruce forgoes the screwdriver and punches the tech. It cuts up his hand, but it feels good, so he does it again. He punches it again and again until his hands are bloody and he's breathing hard and the Hulk is watching, deep in the back of his mind with a smile on his face.

* * *

"There was an accident," Tony says. "Not a big deal, we weren't getting anywhere."

"An accident?" Fury asks, but he doesn't call them on the lie. If anything, he looks proud.


End file.
